Stat Chicklets

Certification

November 17, 2016

Many people want to pursue continuing education for professional enhancement in aquatics, but getting that training can be a long process. Long gaps between classes can leave you needing a refresher when you finally get back in the pool for your next class. Why take 5 years to do the training you can complete in 2 weeks?

This April 17-26, 2017 Aquatic Therapy University is hosting a 2-Week Pediatric Aquatic Therapy Intensive. With over 80 hours of training, you will leave stuffed, saturated, and wrinkled, and with recognition of your training: your Pediatric Aquaticist℠ Certificate (PAq) in hand.

Rather than waiting around for a class to come to your facility or taking the time to travel out of town, join us for 10 action-packed days this spring in Albuquerque, NM. You’ll return home with immediately applicable treatment ideas and a newed joy for practicing your current occupation.

November 23, 2015

After completing their training this October, Elsa Nail, MSPT, and Maria Portela, PTA have received their Aquaticist℠ credential, and Kara Morales, MSPT, ATRIC, MAq, has received the title of Aquaticist℠Instructor. They spent two weeks in sunny Orlando, FL, to receive the training they needed to complete their studies.

To achieve their titles, they each undertook a challenging 84 credit hours of training over the span of the two week intensive course. They applied their studies in the pool, demonstrating the knowledge of aquatic therapy that they had learned in the classroom. Each of the Aquaticist℠ candidatesalso completed over 250 hours of pool therapy prior to receiving their credentials.

To learn more about how becoming an Aquaticist℠ or Aquaticist℠Instructor can advance your career, visit ATU's website. Again, congratulations to Kara, Elsa, and Maria on your hard work and enjoy your new-found skills!

March 24, 2015

Aquatic therapy isn’t always the first thought in someone’s mind when it comes to recovering from an injury. In fact, most people don’t even know it can be a good fit for healing their injury or reducing their pain. However, I am a huge advocate for aquatic therapy as an effective course of treatment, and I hope every physical therapy patient makes the time to learn about aquatic therapy as an option.

There are many types of certifications in the allied health industry, which can make it difficult for patients to know who is medically qualified to treat them. There are three major types of credentials when it comes to aquatic therapy: geriatrics, pediatrics and the newest certification—musculoskeletal—which I have worked hard to achieve.

In fact, I am proud to be the first in the country to earn this aquatic musculoskeletal certification, MAq, an award that involves an evidence-based progression requiring several hundred hours of therapy, education and course work. It’s the first aquatic certification to be awarded only to qualified therapists and their assistants, whereas geriatrics and pediatrics certifications may be provided to fitness instructors at a YMCA or local recreation center. While those other areas are based on good information, the musculoskeletal certification is the only one that assures patients they are being provided with true therapy.

When I first started with Rock Valley Physical Therapy, I wasn’t expecting aquatic therapy to be an area of interest for me. Typically, those techniques aren’t taught until post-graduate education. However, once I had the opportunity to engage with this aspect of therapy, it was incredibly rewarding to see the dramatic impact it can have in a person’s life.

Ever since that time, I’ve pursued aquatic therapy as my specialty, taking classes since 2006 and providing more than 3,000 hours of pool therapy. While spending so much time working towards this certification, I have become incredibly passionate about this area of evidence-based therapy that incorporations not only exercises but also manual therapy techniques that are critical for healing some injuries.

Because I’m so committed to the benefits of aquatic therapy, I’m incredibly interested in sharing my passion with others and encouraging them to consider this specialty. I’ve considered the possibility of teaching others during the accreditation process, and I’m excited to spread the word about aquatic therapy and how it can help our patients!

March 13, 2015

Physical therapist Sarah Bengtson has an aquatic therapy session with Kayla Thelen, 4, at the pool in the Long Branch Hotel in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. Kayla has cerebral palsy and the therapy session in the water helps her speech and stability. (Michael Noble Jr./The Gazette)

Read this inspiring news story of Sarah Bengtson, one of our students, and the amazing work she is doing in the water with a 4-year old CP patient in Iowa. Sarah works for Witwer Children's Therapy as Senior PT and is due to receiver her Pediatric Aquaticist℠ credential at the end of this year. It's stories like this that make us want to do more.

December 05, 2014

As of October 10, 2014 Illinois became the most recent state to accept ProCert certification of continuing education courses and conferences. Any ProCert certified activity will be accepted by the licensing board for purposes of meeting continuing education and licensure renewal requirements for PTs and PTAs in this state. Illinois joins Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Additionally we are clarifying the status of Colorado's acceptance and will soon have an update. Several more states are updating their laws to accept ProCert certification in the future. Learn more about ProCert here, or contact FSBPT Continuing Competence Staff for more information.

All Aquatic Therapy University courses are pre-approved for FSBPT credits. And all ATU credits are super-sized, meaning you can sit for a 16-hour Elite Athlete class and get 21 CCUs. Yes, that's right. Five free credits. A $175 value.

August 14, 2014

We are about 1/2-way through our Caribbean Aquatic Therapy Intensive in Puerto Rico and wanted to check in with Debbie Torrellas, our new campus director there on how things are going.

"Kiki has been awesome, very sharp in her delivery with a touch of humor as you said. I feel very comfortable with all we have been learning and looking forward to teach! All the sensory integration has been very easy for my team. It is like every day cooking with a chef that brings more receipes. Even Joel told me yesterday 'we are so good at this, this is everyday stuff for us with a different scope'.

I am soooooooooo happy!!!"

After this class, Debbie and her team will be the worlds' first ATPIs (Aquatic Therapy Professional Instructors) and will be bringing our curriculum to the therapy students at Caribbean University in San Juan.

June 22, 2014

Aquatic Therapy University does not offer a certification. Why not? Aquatic therapy is not a trade or an occupation. It is a therapeutic procedure used by many physical medicine and rehab professions. It is within the scope of practice of many, but most therapists should seek out additional training for professional enhancement.

At ATU, we think your dollars should go towards additional training in aquatic therapy so you can better perform your current occupations. Therapists looking for additional professional enhancement should sign up to attend our 84 hours of CE training. After attending this continuing education, licensed PTs/PTAs/OTs/OTAs are eligible to receive our Aquaticist℠ Certificate of Advanced Recognition.

This ATU Certificate is not the same as certification. Aquatic therapy certification involves extra fees and exams and expensive annual renewals. Instead, to receive our Certificate, participants need to obtain 84 hours of training, verify licensure, and verify hours spent in the pool setting.

Our courses are amazing 16-hour seminars that will leave your head swollen and your legs wobbly. But when you have finished your 84-hour evidence-based progression you'll know that you accomplished something. And so will your boss and co-workers.

You can complete 5 seminars once a year... or you can finish your training in as fast as 10 days.

May 08, 2014

This holiday retreat is intended to give you the credits you need to earn your Aquaticist℠-In-Training credential while providing a refreshing vacation experience for you and your family. Get immersed into the latest breaking aquatic therapy techniques in a magical thermal lagoon while your family hikes and bikes and tours the tropical island of Hawaii.

A total of 36 credit hours (42 CCUs) of core content is what we will be teaching, beginning with our 4.0 hour Aquatic Therapy Boot Camp DVD which can be viewed in the comfort of your home or clinic before class. Next, you will fly to Hawaii on Christmas day so you'll be ready for your first class, the Ortho/Neuro Survey. This class meets on Fri and Sat and will expose you to the most popular aquatic techniques currently being used in clinics across the globe. Think of it as The Appetizer Sampler of Aquatic Therapy seminars. Then, on Sunday, we will be giving you the day off to recouperate and to spend quality time with your family before finishing up with our Musculo Primer class on Mon and Tues.

July 05, 2013

At the completion of her final 2-week Intensive class on Wednesday, Fezia Tyebally was recognizied for her advanced professional enhancement. Fezia is a massage and sacralcranial therapist from Malaysia and has been in the USA for the last two weeks to sharpen her already extensive skill set in pediatric aquatic therapy. Fezia has a 16-year old special needs child whom she treats, along with others, in her own clinic in Kuala Lampur. In addition to broadening her client base, Fezia also plans to use her recognition to advance the use of aquatic therapy in her island nation.

ATU's next 2-week Intensive is meeting in Minneapolis in August. It is being attended by students from Hong Kong and Puerto Rico and is open for registration.

August 20, 2012

Eight years ago Stacy Lynch of Summit Therapy Group, Phoenix, Ariz. was thrown into the aquatic therapy pool and since then, he hasn’t looked back.

“I went from having just four visits in the pool in three months to being in the pool every day for two to six hours, constantly learning,” Lynch said.

And that constant learning process is what stuck with him. He says the more education and knowledge he gained about aquatic therapy, the more he knew it was something he wanted to be doing.

Lynch has been a physical therapy assistant for 17 years and works mostly with geriatric patients in aquatic therapy. But he didn’t always concentrate on aquatics. In fact, he didn’t always want to be a physical therapy assistant. It was in a college bookstore at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas where Lynch met a man who sparked his interest in physical therapy.

“I saw this man in a wheelchair and I discovered myself just staring at him. I was watching him put his books on the counter with his feet, write his check with his feet and hand it to the cashier with his feet. I felt compelled to talk to him.”